Monday, January 17, 2011

Script fonts are elegant and formal. To use them effectively, however, you must match them with equally elegant photos or images. So, whether you are looking for free fonts for a wedding invitation or for any formal occasion, these scripts fonts are the right tone for your designs. Personally, I like to use script fonts for my personal stationery and scrapbooks. Typefaces with fine lines and lots of swirls and flourishes have a feminine feel to them.

However, for serious occasions like when you are designing a formal wedding invitation, choosing a script font is a bit more complicated. You don’t just pick a typeface that looks nice. Several factors must be considered when deciding on a font.

According to lovetoknow.com, there are three major factors that you should consider in looking for the best font for a wedding event:

1. Character Set: If the font will be used for multiple purposes, a full character set including upper and lower cases, numbers, and punctuation is essential. Special characters may also be desirable depending on the wedding invitation wording.

2. Readability: An ornate script font may be beautiful and romantic, but it may be too difficult to read unless it is very large. Choose a font that is suitably formal but still legible at a practical size for the wedding invitations and other stationery.

3. Style: Script fonts are the most popular for weddings because they are stylish and elegant, but they are not the only option. A casual font is suitable for a second wedding or less formal event, and themed fonts can be used as well. An old English ornate font, for example, is perfect to use for a Renaissance wedding ceremony, while a gothic font may be best for a Halloween wedding.

So here are the best Script fonts that you can download for free or as shareware (Please check the individual Terms of use).

SCRIPT FONTS 01 – SCRIPTINA

Less formal yet fun! The script fonts curl together to create a tight but classic appearance. You may use this font for names and accents for wedding invitations or for logos or short words and phrases. This font is also best paired with a serif fonts to make important information such as dates more legible and easy to read. The numerals, especially the number 1 and 7 are very hard to tell apart in this typeface. Also, the loops and descenders require extra line spacing to be readable. (Available in PC/MAC versions).

This script font is more subdued compared to many script or handwritten typefaces. The letters are a little more stylized compared to the more organic-appearing typefaces that many fonts use. English is the best choice if you prefer crisper and cleaner script fonts. (Available for both MAC and PC users)

This script font has slender letter forms similar to those older style of script fonts. This font’s classic style can give a wedding invitation a stately air. Champignon also comes with a secondary font that allows users to embellish letters of your choice with swashes. (Available for both MAC and PC users)

This script fonts mimic cursive handwriting but is more formal and stylized. The letters also tend to connect between letters. The classic look of this beautiful script makes it a good choice for wedding and other formal invitation. True Type Font for PC).

This script font makes use of numerous curves and swirls but only on the capital letters. The idea to tone down the swirls on the lower case letters, makes this typeface easy to read. This script font is especially ideal for creating invitations and other wedding documents because there is no need to switch to a plainer font for addresses, dates and other critical information.

Described by its author Edward Benguiat as emotional, lyrical, even passionate calligraphic typeface, Edwardian script has a look of a true handwriting. Its appearance was influenced by the look of writing with a steel pointed pen, an instrument which can be pushed as well as pulled, and which produces stroke contrast when pressure upon it is varied.

The Shelley Script font was designed by Matthew Carter to be used as a new script face for the photo typesetting machines. The basic idea was to create one script font that would offer different elegant letter scforms.

This script font has a flowing and artistic, yet scholarly look, making it one of the favorites for formal invitations or announcements. You may also use this script font to add a personal touch to some types of work other than invitations. An advantage of this typeface is that there is also a bold and black version, something that is rare in copperplate fonts.